UTURN cofounder launches a platform for outdoor activities in Jeddah

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Inspired by his personal struggle with finding out about outdoor
activities in Jeddah, Anmar Fathaldin decided to launch Lammt (get together in Arabic), a
website that features activities and events happening in the city.
He hopes that using Lammt, young people and families will be able
to explore their city and country in new ways, through camping,
cruising, or other activities.

Despite the fact that the Saudi Commission for
Tourism and Activities does feature events happening in
the Kingdom, these tend to be touristy activities, like visiting
museums and checking out historical sites. Lammt, using the slogan
‘there is no place for boredom’, focuses more on entertainment
activities. The site works with outdoor activity and entertainment
providers to list their events, and then sells tickets, sometimes
at a discounted rate.

When we sat down with co-founder Fathaldin, who is also the
cofounder of UTURN, Jeddah
Comedy Club, and Hype Digital Media Services, he
told us that he got the idea back in January. The team, which
includes Omar Hussein Alkahly, Mohammed Nahhas, Talal Al-Asmari,
and Yazeed Sewailem, started working on it in February, and
launched in June.

To buy an activity, users create an account on the platform
providing a local phone number to confirm their place of residency.
They can pay using five different methods: credit card (Visa or
MasterCard), PayPal, bank transfer, point of sale, or by requesting
a representative to come and collect the money for an additional 50
Saudi riyals (around $14 USD.)

At the beginning, Lammt relied on personal investment from its
partners and taking commission from sales generated by the
platform. The prices on the site were similar to those provided by
the merchant and sometimes cheaper, which helped the company grow a
loyal user base, says Fathaldin. When asked how they scouted for
deals on the site, Fathaldin revealed that research, relationships,
and previous experiences helped them close deals.

“We are still at the beginning and facing obstacles that have
not been solved yet,” says Fathaldin. “But we will overcome them
inshallah. The most important obstacle is that Saudis
prefer to buy a paper ticket and talk to a person face to face than
purchasing services online. Add to that, the fact that tourism is
one of the most underdeveloped industries in Saudi Arabia.”

To combat this, Fathaldin wants to expand Lammt beyond Saudi, to
countries in the Arab region where tourism is more developed –
and
quickly growing.

Safar Ayad is a contributor at Firnas.org and Wamda. He cofounded tech news portal Onehas and contributed in launching the online economic section of Alsharq newspaper. You can follow his news on Twitter via @SafarAyad.